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Topic: National Hurling Legue 1B 2018 (Read 22372 times)

I've been impressed in patches with us this year but I really am fearful for Sunday. We are well capable of beating them but Dublin know exactly what they have to do and they cannot face a relegation play off.

Hopefully there will be a big crowd there Sunday, it would be fantastic to get the win.

merman, do you know if Joe Phelan was back with the panel during the week? Hopefully Kelly can re-assure him that he has plenty to give to Laois hurling for the season ahead. We will need a good panel with all the games that will be played.

I don't and I actually regret suggesting anything. Joe is a good hurler and a good lad to have around the panel; I'm sure he was frustrated the last day but having stuck with the panel through the hard winter training; I'd be hopeful he'll stay involved for the Tier 2 Championship and a shot at Croke Park. We'll need a panel; he wouldn't be the type to let anyone down!

Well, he's got the nod for the Dublin game, anyway.Form lines suggest we can beat Dublin, but do we really believe we can, deep down?

Hopefully he has a good game. We have to win one of these games at some point, why not Sunday. Of course we'll think the worst based on whats gone before but we've shown what we're capable of. Best of luck to all involved Sunday. Ye deserve a break.

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The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. VinceLombardi

God that was terrible. Are they doing any hurling at all in training? First touch and accuracy miles off. Look like they are going backwards. Antrim should have more than enough to send us to Division 2 if there isn’t huge improvement. So many lads played poorly.

Yes, on Bergin and Ryan, but I thought Matt Whelan was another of a very few who was up for the physical exchanges. Again, though, too many small lads who were horsed off the ball easily enough. The last Dublin goal was a prime example; Joe Phelan - who actually wasn't too bad - pushed off a ball he should have had, but seemed likely to lose. Don't know what daydream Rowland was having, but he should have been out a lot smarter to save his corner back's blushes.Anyway, the game was well gone by then. In fact, it was gone after the first quarter, Laois completely at sixes and sevens against the taller and more robust Dubs. A real downer to have to go up to Antrim off the back of that.They'll need to be getting a lot more out of the likes of Dwyer and Purcell to be winning up there.

Momentum certainly with Antrim after todays games. A win up in Ballycastle is a big ask. What's happened with Ross King since the Antrim game? He couldn't miss in the earlier rounds. After such a promising start today's performance was so.disappointing.

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The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. VinceLombardi

I just don't know but our skill level and sharpness seems way off. Struggling to compete in the air. When we do win possession we seem to get blocked down too easily because we are standing still or we handpass it to the opposition. It seemed yesterday that Dublin did everything at a different speed to us. The free-taking was brutal too. Roddy missed a heap and I think Scully missed 3 when switched.

Very disappointed with this yesterday. I know we missed a lot of frees, which would have brought us a lot closer but in truth we were well off Dublin's level (and they weren't exceptional by any means). A lot of lads just didn't look like they had very high motivation levels and that's disappointing.

On the positive side, Leigh Bergin was outstanding again on Ryan O Dwyer and Matthew Whelan had an excellent game on Conal Keaney. Otherwise, noone really stood out for me. Lee Cleere was presumably injured. Neither Paddy Purcell nor Cha looked like they were at the races at all yesterday for some reason. For me, this was really worse than the Offaly game.

I really think Roddy is much more effective out the field and midfield seems to suit him. Maybe Ryan could be tried at wing back. I know he's done very well in midfield but the wing backs haven't been doing well for a while now.

To me it looked like we had only 4 players that showed any passion. Bergin, Whelan, Ryan and Phelan.

After that no one impressed at all. Was it lack of passion or tiredness? Cant really figure it out.We hear about this being a young team. Look at Limerick on Sunday and they are young.

I don't know about passion. It just seemed like they had no self belief and were not sharp. There were a lot of guys that tried really hard but just couldn't make an impact. They were also pretty devastated afterwards to be fair. For example, Cha, Willie Dunphy, Ross King, Eric Killeen, Ben Conroy all bust a gut but it just wasn't happening for them. Dublin just played at a different pace with a precision that we couldn't handle.

Brian Cody always says that training should be at the same speed and intensity as a match. I seriously doubt this is the case with Laois based on the Offaly and Dublin matches.

There was certainly a height difference across the board and the Dubs won plenty of primary possession both backs and forwards. They also tended not to over carry and would move the ball quicker. There was plenty of LAois ball cleared up the field straight to a Dublin man.

Nothing like bad wides and missed frees to drain a team either. It was said earlier in the league that the other forwards weren't contributiing enough and King couldn't keep carrying the scores. He had two bad days and no one else stood up to the plate. If you're over reliant on one man for scores then you're in trouble.

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The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. VinceLombardi